Thread: Shark Skin Strop?

I have seen several references to shark skin strops in old articles and trade literature but have yet to see one in person. Does anybody here have one, used one, or even better know where to get a new one? Your thoughts and thanks in advance!

I had one. Basically the same as any other. Once it's processed it loses it's known tough properties.

At one time they made strops of all kinds of critters. These days unless you get someone to do a custom job they simply don't that kind of thing anymore.

Here what Napoleon Leblanc had to say about them in his razor essays in 1895.


Seems that most believed that the strop was left with i tough scally skin but that not the case the leather was split. If this was truly a good stropping leather im sure it would be easy to obtain today, and strop makers would definately offer them.

Thank you all for the replies. This was just something that piqued my interest.

One of the best holster makers in the world, Milt Sparks, uses shark skin as a trim on special order holsters. I spoke with them about this and IIRC they said that it is only suitable for decorative purposes. If you are curious enough about it google 'Milt Sparks' and give them a call. They can tell you for sure whether shark would be suitable as a stropping material.

Like Martin says, shark skin strops were made from 'splits' of leather. Shark hide is rather thick, and a special machine called a 'skiver' was used to split it into three sections or so, depending on the thickness required. The top layer with the hard spikey bumps ('denticles') was sold to fashion outlets for handbags, etc, while the lower splits were ideal for strops and so on. In fact the leather made from the splits was so strong that it could be bent double and it would not crease.

You can still get shark skin in some places (expensive) but I don't think the splits are made any more - the strop market has gone down a bit since Napoleon Le Blanc's time!

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

You can still get shark skin in some places (expensive) but I don't think the splits are made any more - the strop market has gone down a bit since Napoleon Le Blanc's time!

Neil, do you know whether that top layer would be a superior stropping surface ? I remember reading, in a book on sharks, that the 'dermal denticles' their skin is composed of would cause serious abrasion if a shark bumped a swimmer in the water. Seems to me it could have the 'right' amount of abrasive quality, unless it was too much of a good thing ?

I have no idea about their use as a strop. I did however used to be a longliner. We used to hang a small shark for sharpening our knives. The untanned shark skin left a very impressive edge on our knives.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Neil, do you know whether that top layer would be a superior stropping surface ? I remember reading, in a book on sharks, that the 'dermal denticles' their skin is composed of would cause serious abrasion if a shark bumped a swimmer in the water. Seems to me it could have the 'right' amount of abrasive quality, unless it was too much of a good thing ?

Never tried it as a strop, Jimmy. I do know that it is incredibly hard, though. And abrasive! I helped out once on a fishing boat landing tope - a type of small shark. They thresh about like crazy, and if you get a glancing blow from one it strips the skin off you.

I suppose it would depend on the fineness of the denticles - they look to be finer at the sides and the belly seems quite smooth. The shagreen with the large bony plates you see that people call sharkskin (used for sword handles, small cases, etc) is really from a ray - before sanding these are like loads of little boney spikes, getting larger and larger as you go up the side of the fish. They get really small towards the stomach and have a marked line where they stop altogether. Hell to sew - they deflect and break needles with ease.

There's a place in the US that gets the skins as cast-offs from the culinary trade (sharks fin soup?) - they soft tan them and sell them as soft, supple skins. They are still quite thick, but not as thick as they used to be in the old days - much like shell cordovan - that used to be a fairly substantial thickness, but not any more. Ah, the good old days...!



Regards,
Neil

When I was a kid I worked on a shrimp boat out of Biloxi, Mississippi as a 'fish boy' for a time. That means that any fish that we harvested, along with the shrimp, were mine to sell when we got back in. That was my pay. Some of the hardest work I ever did.

Anyway, I remember once trying to cut the skin of a shark and it was some serious tough stuff.